Saturday Clubs

 

Since the end of World War II, more and more US soldiers have been stationed around Stuttgart. In recent years, their numbers have decreased significantly, but to this day, Kelly Barracks in a suburb is home to AFRICOM, the headquarters of the US military for operations in Africa. In the early 1980's, we often visited the barracks for the annual German-American Friendship Day. To be honest, it was mainly to buy cheap cigarettes. When we talked to the soldiers, they often complained that there was no country club like the ones they knew from home.

The Longhorn Country & Western Saloon opened in March 1984, catering to the need of US military personnel stationed in Stuttgart for an American-style bar. We became aware of this club at the end of 1984 because it was the venue for the nationwide public male striptease. At that time, the strippers were US soldiers; men were not allowed in. Other events such as mud wrestling and wet T-shirt contests are also unthinkable today. When we visited the club for the first time, we were presented with a strange competition.

From 1987 onward, local concert promoters became aware of the club because they had the opportunity to organize concerts for up to 1,000 spectators. Since then I became a regular visitor of the club and was lucky enough to The Pixies, The Levellers, The Fall, Steele Pulse, The Woodentops and George Clinton among many others. 

I particularly remember The Gun Club concert in 1987. At that time, there was still a public bar and a pool table on the first floor in front of the artists' dressing rooms. We arrived quite early and passed the time playing a few games until the opening act, Dinosaur Jr., came on stage. After that, we sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. Then a young Japanese woman sat down next to me and we had a nice chat until a long-haired punk with red eyes and an open mouth came up to me, grabbed me by the collar, and told me to leave his girlfriend alone. Several security guards immediately separated us and asked me to leave the floor. How could I have known that I was talking to Romi Mori, the bassist and then-girlfriend of Jeffrey Lee Pierce? Happy that nothing more happened, I was able to enjoy the concert.

Fire Of Love

 

In the late 70's/early 80's the heads of Blondie and Ramones fan club. Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers started their band The Gun Club. Not knowing that they made a groundbreaking album with Fire Of Love from 1981 when they combined classic blues, rockabilly and punk to a melange named psychobilly blues and a never heard before slide guitar . In the early and mid-80s, The Gun Club were probably one of the most influential bands on the Los Angeles music scene, if only because of their legendary debut album "Fire of Love". What made Pierce and his band stand out was their wild, raw fusion of punk and blues, captured in killer songs like Sex Beat and She's Like Heroin to Me, roughly comparable to what The Cramps had done with rockabilly in a similarly legendary way at almost the same time. When I bought the album and played it for the first time, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This mixture of priestly enlightenment and punk was unusual and disturbing. But this music captivated me right from the start and Miami, the follow-up album, was another highlight. For me, it is still an album that is almost perfect and should appear in SWC's series.

The Gun Club - She's Like Heroin To Me

The Gun Club - Sex Beat

The Gun Club - Preaching The Blues

The Gun Club - For The Love Of Ivy

He Walked In

 

In February Kid Congo Powers released Swing from the Sean DeLear an unexpected EP with The Pink Monkey Birds after a few years of absence. Delear was was the singer of LA punk band Glue who died four years ago. Kid Congo is now living in Austin, Texas and some could think he lost his power in the Texas heat were wrong. The first three songs show that he is still able to play a powerful garage sound with the Birds. On the second side of this EP he turns into another way. For 14 minutes he turns into an another direction. The music has a laid-back Chicano flavor reminding me a bit of Santana with flutes and bongos coming step by step to the forefront. As far as I know, the song came into being after Powers had a dream about late friend and bandmate Jeffrey Lee Pierce, who passed away in 1996. Power's voice is reminiscent of Vincent Price's, giving the song and eerie vibe especially when he sings 'Although you've been dead for quite some time, you walked into my room, you walked into my mind'. This could be featured in our Monday's series but it could be also a good start into the weekend.

Forgotten Album

A few days ago I rediscovered an album that made great fun when it was released last spring but didn't made it on my year's end list. The self titled debut of Goat Girl, a four piece female band from London that impressed me with their powerful songs. Their sound is a mixture of Southern Punk like Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers used to play, post-punk and indie-rock like The Breeders for example. All the ingredients collected in short songs mostly three minutes as a maximum. But this enough for cutting guitars, a massive bass and a voice that fits to a sound like this.

Goat Girl - The Man
Goat Girl - Country Sleaze

Live Music In German Television # 2

Back in  1977 Blondie was the hippiest new wave band around. A lot of friends I knew that time could agree to them, anyway what musical preferences they had. It might be Debbie Harry in front of the band with her female attraction torn between to be cute and rough. The other reason might be that they wrote simple and catchy power-pop songs. Seeing them the first time live I could understand why Jeffrey Lee Pierce was the head of her fan club. I found this little gem the other days while surfing for some old stuff in the internet. This little concert shows every part of their live attraction even it was hard not to watch Debbie the whole time.

Enjoy this little trip back into the 70s and have a great weekend.

Watermelon Man

Back in 1982: One of the most intensive records in this year was the second record from The Gun Club. The band was formed by Jeffrey Lee Pierce, former head of the Blondie fan club in Los Angeles. Joining him was Brian Tristan, who was later renamed Kid Congo Powers during his stint with The Cramps, Don Snowden, who was at the time a music critic for the Los Angeles Times, and Brad Dunning, now a prominent designer and writer. 

The Gun Club merged the contemporary genre of punk rock with the more traditional genres of blues, rockabilly and country music. When I heard this record for the first time I couldn't believe the sound. Young crazy Americans playing traditional Rhythm' and Blues, cover some traditional tunes as well as CCR's swamp rock 'Run through the jungle'. 

In fact Debbie Harry appears as a backing singer on various tracks on the album under the pseudonym "D.H. Laurence Jr.". If I want listen to some raw, mean and true sound I pick out one of them records. Pure joy for me. I remember well to watch the Gun Club live in the early 90s. Seldom listened to a show that was that emotional (as special guest appeared an unknown band called Dinosaur jr. - which impressed me as well). The location was not too big and that time it was possible to go upstairs to the bar section to get a drink or play pool. I sat at the bar with a drink while a Japanese lady joined me. We had a small and niche conversation about useless things until Mr. Pierce arrived and talking jealous to me, what the hell I'm doing with his girlfriend. Me fool didn't checked that I was talking with his engagement and the bass player of the band.

In 1996, Pierce died from a brain hemorrhage at the age of thirty-seven. Pierce was HIV positive, while also suffering from cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis, at the time of his death.

Gun Club - Watermelon Man